Turkey blackmails Bulgarian municipalities over the Armenian genocide

Three Bulgarian municipalities will not receive EU funding under the cross-border cooperation programs between Bulgaria and Turkey. The reason is that Turkey bans partnerships with municipalities who recognise the Armenian genocide.

The Bulgarian municipalities of Burgas, Haskovo and Svilengrad stand no chance to receive EU money, because of obstructions by Turkey, a non-EU member state, the Bulgarian public TV channel bTV announced yesterday (14 March).

The ban comes from the Turkish foreign ministry, which prohibits working with municipalities who recognise the Armenian genocide of 1915, when hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians died during forced removals by the Ottoman army from what is now Eastern Turkey.

As Bulgarian municipalities are unable to find a Turkish partner to implement joint projects, they are bound to lose several millions of euros. The most important projects concern the environment, for the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters.

For Bulgaria, the issue constitutes both a diplomatic and economic scandal. In the region of Haskovo, every winter, rivers destroy bridges and dams, and flood villages. Local government lacks the resources to do preventative work. That’s why it was counting on the EU-funded regional partnership with the Turkish municipality of Edirne to do the required work. But now the project is dead, because Turkey reneged on cooperating.

The Mayor of Edirne, Recep Gürkan, is quoted as saying that the decision of the Turkish foreign ministry is final:

“With Haskovo we worked very well, but we already have a ban from our Foreign Ministry. The reason is a decision of the Municipal Council of Haskovo from last year, who used the motif of the Armenian genocide to name a park in the city,” Gürkan said.

Declarations condemning the Armenian genocide, adopted by the municipal councils of Bourgas and Svilengrad, have put these municipalities on Turkey’s black list. The Bulgarian Environment Ministry was informed of the case.

Speaking to bTV, Gürkan advised the Bulgarian municipalities to vote again. If the municipal council of Haskovo rescind using the Armenian genocide as a motif for naming a park, cooperation can start again, he said. And he added that the Bulgarian municipality of Yambol had done precisely that.

“Nobody can interfere (with) how we will name a street or a park,” retorted the mayor of Haskovo Dobri Belivanov.

Before prohibiting Edirne to work with these communities on projects, Turkey formally ended diplomatic relations with their mayors. With Haskovo, for example, the twinning was frozen.

Brussels can’t do anything

Apparently the EU can only stop the financing, because trans-border projects require a partner in the neighbouring country. Therefore the risk that the Bulgarian municipalities would lose EU funding because of the political games played by Ankara is real, bTV reports.

Turkish-Bulgarian relations have deteriorated recently. Bulgaria has declared a Turkish diplomat working at the Consulate General in Burgas a persona non-grata. A government source said the Turkish diplomat carried out activities which breach the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Bulgaria has declared a Turkish diplomat working at the Consulate General in Burgas persona non-grata, the Bulgarian press reported yesterday (21 February).

Moreover, the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Daniel Mitov, recently said that Ankara needs to decide if it wants to keep in place its ambassador in Sofia.

Background

Hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians died during forced removals in 1915 by the Ottoman army from what is now Eastern Turkey, but Turkey denies that the move constituted genocide.

The country's attitude vis-à-vis the bloodshed in 1915 is one of the defining aspects of modern Turkish diplomacy, with any use of the term ‘genocide’ either within Turkey or abroad swiftly denounced by Ankara.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was killed in 2007 after openly saying that the events of 1915 were genocide.

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Comments

The EU is very good at shooting itself in the foot. Why give Turkey control over EU funds destined for Bulgaria? More generally, in cooperation matters, the EU has decided that infrastructures will not be available for funding to third countries, at least for a time. This is a shame because the EU has in the past funded essential infrastructure projects, usually far more useful than plain academic studies. The developing world is drowning in studies.What it needs is affordable infrastructure to promote economic and in fine social progress.

On 1915 Armenian incidents: Recognition of something as fact in this context only is an exercise of freedom of expression, which is quite natural. Refusal of any such claim also is equally legitimate. One cannot have a productive debate on any matter, so long as counter-claims are neglected, analyses based on unilateral and selective facts and / or perceptions and / or convictions. Anyone who is interested in 1915 Armenian incidents, should take a look at the recent Grand Chamber Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, on Perincek vs Switzerland case. Otherwise, it is up to Bulgarian Government, to declare a Turkish diplomat persona non grata, and it is up to Turkish Government, to limit the scope of co-operation in certain matters. On Turkey’s breakind diplomatic relationship with some Bulgarian municipalities: Municipalities have no diplomatic status. Turkey, for example have no diplomatic relation with any Bulgarian municipality. Those are mere technical and other types of relationships.

To call the Armenian massacre (genocide had yet to be invented after the Holocaust) “incidents” speaks volumes for the author of this comment. Perhaps the photograph which illustrates this article is not clear enough.

In this case refusal of any such claim is actually an exercise in falsifying history, rather an exercise in freedom of expression. The Armenian genocide is a fact. It has been officially recognized by Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Uruguay, Venezuela. Of theses states Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia have outlawed Armenian genocide denial.
UK, USA and Israel are some prominent states don’t officially recognize, but also don’t DENY the genocide. There are only two states in the world that deny the genocide happened and they are both ethnically Turkish (Turkey and Azerbaijan).
Perincek vs Switzerland does not actually dispute the fact of the genocide in Switzerland, where genocide denial is still criminalized. It just renders it unenforceable.
Bulgaria is not likely to change its stance as it doesn’t have bases in Turkey like the U.S., have an irrational love affair with Turkey like the U.K. or have existential threats to its existence like Israel.
As a last note I believe any discussion on the Armenian genocide is not complete without this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moByGLA7FDc
I’ve always found Israel’s official position on the issue especially puzzling.

I do not understand why this is seen as “blackmailing”. Any person or a legal entity is free to get in partnership with others, or change mind and decide not to get in partnership. On other other hand, Hrant Dink was a very valuable person, respected by many Turks too, who had a critical stance both towards Turkey and Armenians.

OPERATION “MOSUL”.
Expert assessment of Academy of Geopolitics. By our assessment, for release of the Iraqi city of Mosul from “Saddam’s Army Daash”, the question of crash of the Dam on the river Tiger at the city of Mosul about what we already wrote here is considered: http://www.nt.am/ru/news/217622/
. For real liberation of Mosul, it is necessary to create the Joint military group, taken place from the military personnel of the different countries. This group has to have uniform command and the joint General Staff. As the city of Mosul is in the territory of the sovereign state of Iraq, all these problems have to be solved with the permission of the government and Parliament of Iraq. We authentically know that Parliament of Iraq didn’t give a green light about creation in the territory of such military group. Moreover, according to our data, the government of Iraq, at the head of Haider al-Abadi is going to resign all structure about what today, on March 16 there was zayavlen Karbala. Then, there is a question: on the basis of what international law, on March 14 the representative of the coalition headed by the USA on fight against DAISh in Iraq and Syria, the colonel Steve Warren declared, what the USA Mosul in the north of Iraq prepares to a occupait of Mosul? “There is a preparation for storm of the city, including drawing blows by planes of the coalition to positions of fighters, – Warren noted. – We kill on average time in three days any of leaders of DAISh. Terrorists weaken, but it doesn’t mean that they just about will give up. It is easier to reach their military defeat, than ideological”. “Now the Iraqi army with assistance of aircraft of the coalition and 450 Iraqi commando, recently graduated from school in Baghdad, close a ring round the city, trying to take terrorists in a siege”, – the colonel of the Pentagon Steve Warren declared.
In the city of Mosul, according to experts of our Academy of Geopolitics, for the beginning of February, 2016 I lived about 3,4 million Iraqis. In Mosul the main “state” establishments Daash are located. In Mosul there are over 43,5 thousand soldiers of Army Daash, “Saddam’s convicts”: (see http://www.prezidentpress.ru/news/3862-eho-nashih-publikaciy-turciya-i-iran-grabyat-irak.html ). And as the colonel of the Pentagon Steve Warren with the help can: “the Iraqi army, with assistance of aircraft of the coalition and 450 Iraqi commando” to free Mosul, remains military secret of the Pentagon…. We consider that for liberation of Mosul, at least, 23-25 army crews, as a part of 220-230 thousand military are necessary. The situation is complicated also by that circumstance that the president of Russia V. Putin began a conclusion of the troops from Syria what to strengthen Daash finally because except Russians, on the present only the Kurdish female armed groups fight against terrorism in Syria and in Iraq:
(See: http://www.tpp-inform.ru/global/3891.html ).
Arayik Sargsyan, academician, Honorary Consul of Macedonia in Armenia, President of Academy of Geopolitics,
representative of AIC in Irag . http://www.nt.am/ru/news/218182/